1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to mounting a computer card, such as a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) card, in a computer or other electronic chassis, box, or body (simply called an “enclosure” herein) that may be mounted in a rack with other enclosures/boxes (i.e., each being a rack-mountable chassis) such that top access to the interior of the enclosure is not available, and, more particularly, to a card carrier for housing or carrying a computer card. The card carrier is adapted for positioning/locating, attaching, and supporting the computer card to enable cards to be blind mated from the rear of the system (or rear of the enclosure).
2. Relevant Background
There are numerous settings or environments where electronic equipment, computers and computer equipment (e.g., servers, routers, and so on), and telecommunications equipment are provided in a centralized location in standard or conventional racks. Often, this equipment is provided within a box or chassis (“enclosure”) that is then mounted within the rack. Such use of racks with configurable electronic or computer devices each in a chassis can be found in data centers, computer rooms, network rooms, control rooms, telecommunication centers, and so on. As a specific example, servers and other computing devices are often each provided in such a chassis.
Once these computing devices are assembled and/or placed on a rack, it may be desirable to later add an additional computer card (or expansion card or add-on card). In general, a computer card is an expansion device that provides an existing computer or computing device with certain added capabilities. As one specific example, a PCIe card may be added to a computing device to provide lower latency and higher data transfer rates than parallel busses as every device that is connected to a motherboard with a PCIe link has its own dedicated point-to-point connection. A challenge with adding computer or expansion cards to a previously-assembled and/or rack-mounted computing device is how to achieve proper locating of the card's connectors with the receiving connectors (e.g., PCIe standard electrical interface connectors or slots) provided within the computing device such as on another board or card in the enclosure.
For example, PCIe cards require an insertion orthogonal to the rear of the enclosure or computing system, where the card bulkhead and connectors are located. To allow, a computer card such as a PCIe card to be inserted without a carrier requires access to the top of the enclosure (and receiving card) for vertical insertion/mating. However, there are many situations in which top or upper access is not available such as with a previously rack-mounted device (e.g., a rack-mounted server or the like), and, in these applications, rear access blind mate is required. Hence, a card carrier has been utilized to achieve a rear-of-the-system blind mate between the card in the carrier and receiving electrical connectors.
While the present card carriers are able to achieve proper blind mates, these card carriers are relatively costly. For example, some current PCIe card carriers include a complex and expensive cast metal frame as well as a printed circuit assembly (or circuit board) to secure the card within the carrier and to reorient the signals from the PCIe card to a front-to-back configuration. These PCIe card carriers also rely on a specialized connector to mate the card carrier with the system in the enclosure, e.g., to allow rear insertion of card carrier and avoid vertical insertion from behind or with only rear access. As a result, the existing PCIe card carriers cost in the range or $80 to $120 USD to manufacture and fabricate, which can significantly and undesirably increase the cost to add a computer card to a computing device or system.